Eurochild concludes Annual Conference with a call for action to the European Union and the Member States.

Europe is facing difficult times but the turmoil must not jeopardise investment in children and families otherwise the losses in human and social capital will be unquantifiable. We should not risk long term investments for short term gains.

The Europe 2020 Strategy provides an opportunity to give a new impetus to the fight against child poverty in the EU with an ambitious goal of taking 20 million people out of poverty by 2020. But this strategy will only succeed if a coherent, inclusive approach to supporting, strengthening and empowering children and families most at risk is adopted.

During the Eurochild Annual Conference several key elements for success have been identified:

? Europe must be prepared to back local, national and regional authorities in their efforts.

? The long awaited Recommendation on Child Poverty and Well-being ? which is scheduled for 2012 ? will provide a clear framework for the EU and Member States. We urge European and National politicians to give the Recommendation priority attention.

? Eurochild and its members will continue campaigning for a dedicated EU children’s budget.

? We ? repeatedly ? call for a monitoring framework that facilitates up-to-date data collection on a regular basis.

? Eurochild will publish in 2012 a Compendium of Inspiring Practice as the success of all policies depend on how they are put into practice.

This Partnership involves institutions active in the field of lifelong learning, specialising on cultural traditions of five European countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Spain and Latvia. The aim of this partnership is to develop lifelong learning skills through exchange of divers European rural and urban cultural experiences in attractive and effective networking - between adult and young learners, different types of institutions from participating European countries. Learning each others’ cultural heritage is a powerful tool for fighting exclusion caused by economical and social differences between old and new EU Member States. Involving teachers and professionals of culture enables the organisers to disseminate the knowledge and skills largely in the participating countries. One of main objectives is to involve rural people and encourage them to develop their skills and awareness in European context. Important is an involvement of parents of young people as future adult learners.

Of special importance is the preparation of a teacher for presentation of work ? a song, a play or a piece of art to the learner that requires specific knowledge and preparation.

We live communicating through the art and the awareness in the various characteristics and methods would be favourable for the process of communication.

This partnership’s main result will be increased number of encouraged, culturally aware and actively networking learners from different generations of Europeans that are using new tools and methods to improve their professional qualification and better access the labour market.
Indirect beneficiaries will be local communities and schools that will be able to attract more adult learners.